Federal judges lost a bid for cost-of-living salary increases Friday when an appellate court reversed a lower court ruling that judges were entitled to pay increases that had been denied by Congress. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Congress was acting within its rights in blocking cost-of-living salary adjustments for federal judges.

Federal judges lost a bid for cost-of-living salary increases Friday when an appellate court reversed a lower court ruling that judges were entitled to pay increases that had been denied by Congress. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Congress was acting within its rights in blocking cost-of-living salary adjustments for federal judges.

Declaring the morale and quality of the federal judiciary is at stake, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is calling on Congress to give judges a cost-of-living raise. Federal judges, who now make $133,600 a year, "need and have earned" more money, especially since many could be making heftier salaries as top-tier private lawyers, Rehnquist said in his year-end message on the federal courts.

Judges across California can only look in wonderment and envy at their brethren on the Los Angeles Superior Court. In this town, judges make so much that a promotion to a higher level would mean a pay cut. The reason: Los Angeles County officials allow the judges to draw duplicate benefits and perks from state and local taxes. As a result, the judges receive nearly $30,000 a year above their base salary of $118,000.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist says the new 25% pay hike for federal judges will help them cope with a sharply rising caseload "fueled by drug cases and an ever-rising tide of personal bankruptcies." In his year-end report on the federal court system, Rehnquist noted that drug prosecutions in federal courts rose 6% in 1990 "while filings for violations of weapons and immigration laws climbed more than 23%."

A high-level presidential commission is expected to recommend today that American taxpayers finance a huge pay increase of as much as 50% for members of Congress, federal judges and top Administration officials, including the President.

These are the Senate and House members who voted against a resolution to disapprove the pay increase. A vote against the measure to kill the raise was seen as a vote for the plan: Senators supporting the pay raise: Dodd (D-Conn.), Jeffords (R-Vt.), Kennedy (D-Mass.), Matsunaga (D-Hawaii), Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Stevens (R-Alaska).

"We face reality here today," Rep. Vic Fazio said Tuesday as his colleagues prepared to demolish the controversial pay hike plan in an avalanche of "nay" votes. "We're doing what has become inevitable." At a tactical level, the Sacramento Democrat, who led the fight on behalf of the raise, may have been right: The attempt to give members of Congress, federal judges and some other high federal officials huge pay increases through parliamentary sleight-of-hand led to political disaster.

Although no final decision has been made by President Bush, a consensus is emerging in the White House for seeking congressional approval of a 25% pay raise for federal judges, senior officials said Wednesday. The President and his aides appear to be moving gingerly on the sensitive subject in light of the huge public backlash against a recent broader pay hike measure and are not ready to propose raises, the officials said. But some action is growing more likely.

President Bush plans to propose a 25% pay raise for federal judges and is considering comparable raises for a small number of highly skilled federal workers, senior Administration officials said Tuesday.

Police across California will soon have access to better training on confronting the mentally ill, under legislation signed into law Monday by Gov. Gray Davis. Davis also signed legislation to raise judges' pay by 8% and vetoed a bill that would have granted greater police powers to Los Angeles' library cops.

Declaring the morale and quality of the federal judiciary is at stake, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is calling on Congress to give judges a cost-of-living raise. Federal judges, who now make $133,600 a year, "need and have earned" more money, especially since many could be making heftier salaries as top-tier private lawyers, Rehnquist said in his year-end message on the federal courts.

Lured by higher pay and a chance to rejoin the fray, many retired judges are returning to the bench to help ease the strain on heavily burdened California courts. "I'm really too young to retire--and besides that, my wife wouldn't want me around the house," said Justice Robert R. Devich, 66, who is serving as a temporary judge in Los Angeles Superior Court after retiring from the state Court of Appeal last summer. "I enjoy being a judge--I really do. I'm learning something new every day."

State Supreme Court Justice Joyce L. Kennard is joining scores of court staff members in taking a voluntary, four-day unpaid furlough to try to avoid mandatory staff pay cuts in the wake of the state budget crisis. "You cannot ask your staff to be subject to financial sacrifice when you yourself are not subject to it," Kennard said Friday. "I view loyalty as a two-way street." She added that if pay cuts also are imposed on court staff members, she will accept such a cut for herself as well.

One week after receiving a budget that calls for cuts in virtually every department, Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday approved for themselves a $350-a-month "professional development allowance" that effectively will increase their pay by 4%, to $103,497 a year.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist says the new 25% pay hike for federal judges will help them cope with a sharply rising caseload "fueled by drug cases and an ever-rising tide of personal bankruptcies." In his year-end report on the federal court system, Rehnquist noted that drug prosecutions in federal courts rose 6% in 1990 "while filings for violations of weapons and immigration laws climbed more than 23%."

Entering the thorny debate over judicial pay, the Orange County Bar Assn. supported a 30% raise Wednesday for the nation's 1,300 federal judges, who earn $89,500 a year but say they are grossly underpaid in contrast with judicial peers.

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said that President Bush's proposals to raise pay for judges and top executive branch officials cannot win approval without a link to higher pay for members of Congress. Foley said he prefers there to be no connection, but he suggested his view is not widely shared on Capitol Hill. The Speaker commented at a luncheon with executives and reporters of The Associated Press.

Los Angeles County's Board of Supervisors and the more than 400 Superior and Municipal Court judges are squaring off in a last-minute showdown over the vast judicial system's proposed annual budget of $401 million. And if the sides don't patch up their differences by a Nov. 15 deadline, the county could lose $130 million in state funding for the courts. "For the county to reject (the budget) would be shooting themselves in the foot," said Superior Court Executive Officer Frank Zolin.

U.S. District Judge Raul Ramirez on Tuesday announced his resignation from the bench, citing low morale among federal judges and the decaying quality of the judiciary caused by overwork and low pay. Choking back tears at one point, Ramirez, 45, said that he will become a partner in the business law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, which has offices in California and New York.